Identifying and Advocating Best Practices in the Criminal Justice System. A Texas-Centric Examination of Current Conditions, Reform Initiatives, and Emerging Issues with a Special Emphasis on Capital Punishment.

Friday, 16 August 2013

Ohio to Switch Lethal Injection Drugs

Ohio prison officials, forced to revamp the lethal-injection process for the third time since
resuming executions in 1999, are sorting out which drug or drug combination is best.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction isn’t talking about it at this point. But
officials indicated in a federal court filing on Monday that the switch to a new execution protocol
will be announced by Oct. 4 because the supply of the drug currently used, pentobarbital, runs out
next month.

And:

Ohio and other states have found it a challenge to find a drug, or drug combination, that kills
quickly, painlessly and without complications, that passes legal muster and that is available.

Ohio’s current rules allow for the first-ever intramuscular injection of a lethal dose of drugs.
Prison officials tweaked the protocol in March 2011 to allow hydromorphone, an opiate, and
midazolam, a sedative, to be injected directly into muscles in the upper arm, thigh or buttocks.
The combination has never been tried in the U.S. All 51 executions in Ohio since 1999 have been
done intravenously.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C.,
said he thinks Ohio may lean toward the injection. But he said that could be a questionable
choice.

“With intramuscular injections, there can be reactions to it, and it’s unknown how long it takes
to get into the system after being injected,” he said. “All of this is unknown.

“Going forward on what’s available rather than what might be the best consensus according to
medical experts may not be the best policy.”

Ohio is likely within two months to again change the way it executes prisoners, as drug sources dry up and supplies expire.

The latest change, which would be the third time the state has
made a major change related to the drug it uses in lethal injection, is
expected no later than Oct. 4, according to a court filing.

The filing does not spell out the new process, and the prisons department declined to comment Thursday.

However, it's unlikely Ohio would switch to a
method not involving drugs. The state eliminated the electric chair as
an option a decade ago in part out of prison authorities' concerns about
the potential stress on those carrying out the execution.

Whatever the approach, it will apply to the
November execution of Ronald Phillips, sentenced to die for raping and
killing his girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993, according
to the order filed Monday by federal Judge Gregory Frost.

Frost's order notes that the new process won't be
in place for next month's execution of Harry Mitts. The Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction raised the likelihood of a plan by Oct. 4
in a recent telephone conference with the judge, according to the order.

The change in the execution process is necessary
because supplies of the sedative pentobarbital, the drug Ohio uses for
executions, have been put off limits by its manufacturer, and the
state's remaining supplies expire at the end of September.

One option floated by Ohio authorities is
obtaining the drug from compounding pharmacies, which are licensed to
create small batches of drugs for specific patients.

Ohio also has a backup method involving two drugs injected into muscles. That method has never been used.

Federal Judge Gregory Frost in Columbus, Ohio, disclosed the state’s
intentions in a court filing Monday, although the filing was not
reported until Thursday. He did not say how the state would execute
death row inmates. Frost said lawyers for the state discussed the issue
in a conference call last week.

State lawyers said the new execution method would be in place by no
later than Oct. 4, in time for the scheduled execution of Ronald
Phillips on Nov. 14. It will not be in place in time for the scheduled
execution of Harry Mitts, Jr. on Sept. 25, the judge’s order said.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction did not respond to a Reuters request on Thursday for comment on the filing.

Ohio
and other states where capital punishment is legal have reported
difficulty finding companies that manufacture pentobarbital. Ohio
officials have said the state will run out by the end of September.

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The StandDown Texas Project

The StandDown Texas Project was organized in 2000 to advocate a moratorium on executions and a state-sponsored review of Texas' application of the death penalty.
To stand down is to go off duty temporarily, especially to review safety procedures.

Steve Hall

Project Director Steve Hall was chief of staff to the Attorney General of Texas from 1983-1991; he was an administrator of the Texas Resource Center from 1993-1995. He has worked for the U.S. Congress and several Texas legislators. Hall is a former journalist.